The Sunday Poet: Susan Tepper

Poet Susan Tepper

Susan Tepper has been a writer for twenty years. Her stories, poems, interviews and essays have been published extensively worldwide. An award-winning author, Tepper has been nominated multiple times for the Pushcart Prize and once for a Pulitzer Prize for the novel. 'Let's Talk' her column at Black Heart Magazine runs monthly. FIZZ her reading series at KGB Bar, NYC, has been ongoing for eight years. Before settling down to study writing, Tepper worked as an actor, singer, flight attendant, marketing manager, tour guide, television producer, interior decorator, rescue worker and more

Give

If you don’t have cash

to spare

give an apple, anyone can

afford one apple, or

maybe a muffin,

a corn muffin for a

stomach on a cold night

anyone could,

Or maybe you could

give a coat

you never wear anymore

stuffed in the dusty

back of your closet, there

must be sweaters and jackets

back in there, too,

you could give

gathering cobwebs

you could shake off

in the fresh air,

you could give a scarf or

peaches in a can,

anyone could

spare a can of cling peaches

from inside your cupboard,

smashed against other cans and

spices and crinkly bags of

pasta, maybe you could give

a sandwich, some meat and cheese

between two slices

of bread, anyone could

give a sandwich.

So many things

lying about you could give

without missing

a single beat.